Tropical Diamond
by tintenstern
Summary: Carddeck AU. The King and Queen of Spades spend their honeymoon on a tropical island. USUK


For usxuk Summer Camp, theme Tropical Vacation

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><p><strong>Tropical Diamond<strong>

A great celebration stood before the Kingdom of Spades: the King and Queen were going to be married. A royal wedding always proved to be a spectacle for the whole kingdom. After all, the royal pair were the kingdom's political leaders, and even though the positions weren't defined by gender or social class, but were chosen, it was tradition that King and Queen forged a bond to strengthen both their sovereignty as well as the kingdom's position in the balance of the four kingdoms. The general rule was that the stronger the bond, the stronger the kingdom.

This was the case with the current King, Alfred, and Queen, Arthur. They had known each other since young age, and had fallen in love as they grew up; it just so happened that they had also both been chosen as the rulers. While first and foremost, their marriage was for the sake of the kingdom, at the same time they were also bound by true love.

But even with all the importance the wedding ceremony holds, there was another thing just as important, if only for the couple: the honeymoon. They had spent a lot of time discussing about where to spend it, eventually deciding on Tropical Diamond, an island belonging to the kingdom of Diamonds. They would have two weeks nearly to themselves, only accompanied by a group of royal guards, while the Jack would stay behind and take care of the kingdom.

The morning after their wedding night, the couple prepared for their departure. It would be a longer journey, first having to travel to the coast, before they were setting off to the island by ship. They used the time to get some more rest (it had been a long night, after all) and when they finally arrived, they brought their things to their residence and set out to explore.

It was interesting to discover all the differences to their own kingdom. While in Spades, everything was toned in blues, violets and golds, Diamonds was all sunny yellow, warm orange and creamy white. Because of the tropical climate in Diamonds, it was necessary to wear only light colors and cooling materials. For Arthur's liking, it was definitely much too hot, while Alfred didn't really mind to be out in the heat for hours. Still, he was considerate of Arthur's health and saw to it that they stayed in the shadow whenever possible and didn't go out in the greatest heatwave, mirroring the kingdom's traditional siesta-time.

The residence was located near the beach and when they had breakfast, they sat on the patio, enjoying the sight of the golden glittering waves and the scent of the Diamond's national flower, the Diamond Lily. Then, they could either go to the near villages and towns or on the beach, being back inside by midday. Dinner would be enjoyed on the patio again and evenings would be spent walking on the beach, watching the sunset tint the waves dark orange.

Alfred was excited about the many things they could do on the beach – and disappointed to see that Arthur preferred to just sit underneath the large palms with their diamond-shaped leafs providing shade for him, reading some book. He pouted. "Come on, Arthur! Come in the water!," he shouted.

Arthur looked up from his book to glance at him. "No. I'm not going in the water."

"But where's the fun in that? You can read all the time, but we're not always at a beach like that. Now come on, just a little bit? Please?"

But Arthur was immune to the pouting pleads, firmly repeating his "no". But Alfred wouldn't be Alfred if he would just give up. He walked up to him, pout still on his face. "Then let's at least build a sandcastle or something together!," he said, "we're here to spend our time together, after all."

Arthur rolled his eyes, saying: "You're, what, twelve?" But at the same time, smiled affectionately and put aside his book. "Alright. So, what do you want to do?"

"Ah, I know! Let's draw each other in the sand!," Alfred cried out excitedly.

So that's what they did. Arthur was really proud of his work – the fine arts was something he prided himself in – so he expected a similar work from his husband. However, when Alfred proudly presented his sand-drawing, Arthur frowned. He had just drawn a frowning face, the eyebrows being the only feature to indicate who it was supposed to be. "I don't look like that at all," Arthur muttered.

"'Course you do!," Alfred laughed and even louder when he saw Arthur's sand-drawing. "Awww, you drew me all handsome with sparkles!"

"That's just to make fun of you," Arthur replied in his best serious voice, but with a blush, "now let's build an actual sandcastle." After that, he eventually agreed to go swim, under the condition that he would cook dinner that night.

The rest of the activities wasn't free of bickering either, but that wasn't unusual for them. They enjoyed the time and after a while, even Arthur stopped complaining about the heat. Time flew by and before they knew it, the last day of their honeymoon had arrived. It was now the last evening, and they were once again walking along the beach, this time far longer than the sunset when the sky turned dark and the golden sand under their feet grew colder. They sat under a palm tree, huddled up closely and looking up at the first stars appearing on the night sky.

"I can't believe we're leaving tomorrow," Arthur murmured, "I grew accustomed to this place."

Alfred made an agreeing sound. "It was great here. I'll miss the beach when we're back home and have to work."

Arthur chuckled. "But I'll be glad to be back in our normal climate. Though I'll miss the quiet."

Alfred chuckled as well. "Hey, we can always try to sneak out and get some time for us alone. And try to have vacation every once in a while."

They continued to sit silently, and eventually fell asleep under the night sky.

When they had long returned back home, Alfred and Arthur still liked to remember their honeymoon. Tropical Diamond had in some way become "their" island. Whenever they had vacation, they would return there and even when they had to go to Diamonds for political reasons, they tried to stop by the island at least shortly. It was their favorite place outside their own kingdom and would be for the rest of their lives.


End file.
